


i loved you first

by thimble



Series: SASO 2017 [23]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-09 03:12:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12267699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thimble/pseuds/thimble
Summary: "Speaking of," says Taiga, because he misses Tatsuya's smile, and he's desperate to fix that expression Tatsuya's wearing right now, "we should dance.""Really?" That one word fans the flames along Taiga's ears, but at least his plan is working—the corners of Tatsuya's lips are lifting. "You, willingly, asking someone...""Shut up," says Taiga, without any real heat to it. He stands, extends his hand. "Dance with me."[i.e. there's no better place to confront your first love than at your shared mentor's wedding.]





	i loved you first

**Author's Note:**

> written for [this](https://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/22341.html?thread=12733765#cmt12733765) prompt.

The ceremony is simple, done in some nondescript chapel with only a few rows of pews lining the room, allowing only for a select number of guests and minimal fanfare. It may not be what anyone might dream of as their perfect wedding, but Taiga rather likes it. He likes the sound of the electronic keyboard playing the march, far less grand than a church organ but not any less adept at building anticipation. He likes the way light filters in through the windows, part sun and part colored glass, as if everything's being seen through a kaleidoscope. He likes that the focus is on the important part — that love is on the centerfold — without any of the fancy trappings.   
  
Most of all, he likes the way Alex is smiling — quiet but brighter for it, the intensity focused on a singular person, as if there wasn't anyone else in the world. She always did love harder than anyone he knows, and had been lucky enough to be on the receiving end of it.   
  
The feeling of intimacy carries over to the reception, held in a similarly tiny venue. The small amount of tables makes way for a wide, if currently sparse dance floor, and even if Taiga has two left feet he can appreciate how Alex and her bride are occupying it by themselves, all loud laughter and wild limbs.   
  
It's a great atmosphere, he thinks, warm and soft like a candle's glow. There's no loneliness to stave off because that's not how he feels at all; he thinks he's happy, against all odds, even if he's here on his own. Alex being happy is enough.   
  
At least, he gets up for his third round at the buffet table and runs into Tatsuya, of all people, soaking wet but still perfect, stepped right out of his dreams.   
  
Taiga breathes his name, the way he always does when the two of them meet somewhere they aren't expected to. But this time Tatsuya's smile is more genuine than usual, his poker face presumably washed off by the rain.   
  
"Think she'll kill me for being late?" he asks, tucking damp hair behind his ear and out of his eyes. Taiga nearly reaches out, but stops himself, and smiles back.   
  
"Nah. She's in a really good mood." He motions to the dance floor, where Tatsuya's gaze travels. The sight makes both of them laugh, and this, here, is a moment Taiga will keep close to his chest, wherever this evening goes.   
  


* * *

  
  
"So where's—?"  
  
"Not here." Tatsuya's still smiling, though it's a little tired, worn around the edges. "Can you guess why?"  
  
"I'm sorry it didn't work out," says Taiga, because there's no point in saying he always thought Tatsuya deserved better anyway. (Not that he thinks anyone would be ever good enough for Tatsuya, not really, because Tatsuya's always been the best in his eyes.)  
  
"Can't say I feel the same," says Tatsuya, and Taiga laughs again, feeling horrible for it.  
  
"Tatsu."  
  
"It's true." Tatsuya's grinning around the wine he's nursing, and Taiga's glad, more than glad, that his heart seems to have come out intact. "He was a dick."  
  
"Okay, then I'm not sorry either."  
  
"You shouldn't be." Tatsuya sighs, setting his glass down. "I know I make you worry, but I'm fine. It happened a while ago."  
  
Taiga's not sure what's worse: that Tatsuya went through it on his own, or that they'd gone without talking for this long. Maybe they're one and the same.   
  
"Sorry I didn't call."  
  
"I didn't either. I should have." He stares off wistfully at some distance Taiga can't follow him to. "I should've done a lot of things."  
  
"Speaking of," says Taiga, because he misses Tatsuya's smile, and he's desperate to fix that expression Tatsuya's wearing right now, "we should dance."  
  
"Really?" That one word fans the flames along Taiga's ears, but at least his plan is working—the corners of Tatsuya's lips are lifting. "You, willingly, asking someone..."  
  
"Shut up," says Taiga, without any real heat to it. He stands, extends his hand. "Dance with me."  
  


* * *

  
  
It's not that Taiga didn't like dancing with Alex, that he didn't like hearing her laugh right in his ear or telling him how happy she is that he came, that he didn't like seeing her grin up close and knowing that she'll be wearing it for the next few months. It's just that when she'd cut in to dance with either one of them, Tatsuya seems to have taken that as his cue to disappear, and Taiga's not certain if he's somewhere that can be found.  
  
Still, Taiga will try to find him, just as he always has, even if he has the uncanny ability to put distance between him and Tatsuya when that's the last thing he wants.  
  
Tatsuya hasn't gone very far; Taiga catches him outside, the black of his tux blending in with the dark.   
  
"You okay?" Taiga has to ask, even if what he means is,  _are we?_    
  
Tatsuya glances over his shoulder, and there's a smile on his lips but it's not one of the real ones. "I am, I just had to get some air."   
  
"Do you...?" Taiga swallows but the lump in his throat won't dissolve. "Do you need to to leave?"  
  
"No! Taiga, oh—" Tatsuya's hands are on his hips, his head bowed; he looks the way he does when he loses at basketball. "It's not what you— you didn't—"   
  
When he looks up, there's a helplessness in his eyes. "If we stayed like that, I would've done something stupid."  
  
Taiga knows what he means. In the lowered lights, with all the love songs in the background, Tatsuya's arms around his shoulders and his hands on Tatsuya's hips, their faces inches apart and their hearts seeming to beat in sync—if they hadn't been interrupted, Taiga would've done a lot of things.   
  
So he takes a chance, and does one of them now.   
  
He reaches for Tatsuya, and Tatsuya seems to instinctively lean into his touch, the way he had when they danced; he kisses Tatsuya and Tatsuya kisses back, however he might've felt before.  
  
"Not stupid," says Taiga, arms tight around him and barely giving him space to breathe (this is the only way he can think of to keep Tatsuya here.) "This—it's not stupid."  
  
"I'm still not sure about that," says Tatsuya, his palms gentle on Taiga's jaw, as if he doesn't mean to disappear again and Taiga supposes that's all that matters. "But I can be convinced otherwise."


End file.
